June 27, 2009

Virginia Session - 6/27/09- Pt 1

At first, walking along the semi-abandoned streets of downtown Lynchburg seemed like an exercise in futility. We had fretted over conversation starters and worried about how we would approach strangers and somehow start a meaningful conversation with them. After several fruitless deviations from the main street, we decided to step into a small restaurant. It was fairly empty, but we decided to take a seat and order some food. At a table near to us sat an elderly couple. When we were ordering, Rosa leaned over to me and told me, "I just feel like we're supposed to be here". Soon after that, the elderly gentleman called across the small dining area and asked me if I was in chorus (based on the t-shirt I was wearing). The man and his wife soon engaged us in a full conversation, which lead to some interesting revelations of the way they viewed the world. Professed Christian believers, the sweet lady suggested that I look into the field of child psychology for my college major, as I am currently undecided. Curious, I asked her why she suggested that, and the couple informed us that there was a great need for child psychology because the children nowadays are suffering from broken homes and poor parenting. We skipped around, talking about the media, the arts, and the church which they attend.
From there, we walked back along the main street until we came to an antique shop. Rosa had been intrigued by it on the bus ride there, so we stepped inside and began to look around. We were the only customers in the shop, and we browsed the random merchandise, listening to the loud radio that was playing Michael Jackson songs in solemn tribute. After a while, a man came to sit behind the counter and asked if he could assist us. Rosa began to talk to him and got on the subject of Michael Jackson and the debatable cause of his death. From there, the topic strayed to Heath Ledger, the media, and Gone with the Wind. By this time, the man's employee, who was roughly thirty, came over from sanding the wall to join our conversation. After they asked us a couple of questions and found out we were studying at Liberty, they quickly started on the topic of sects of the Christian faith. The older man assumed that both of us were Baptist (which we corrected by saying that Rosa is Pentecostal and I am Baptist), and he told us that he was Anglican and that his employee was Roman Catholic. Immediately, we found ourselves engaged in a discussion of the Christian sects. It was clear that the man and his employee had debated the supremacy of their churches before this, for both seemed to be pulling out old arguments. "We must have been right, because the Lord helped us blow your Armada right out of the water!" the Anglican kept saying to his employee. "Well, at least the founder of our church didn't behead his wives!" the Roman Catholic would respond. It was all in jest, because, as it turns out, the Anglican attends the same church as the Roman Catholic. We also discussed the restrictions that surround priesthood and whether or not it's a healthy thing for the church, bringing up the teachings of Paul that tell us to marry if we cannot handle not being married. We agreed that devoting one's life to God by not getting married was a respectable and even preferable choice for a priest, but if not getting married somehow led them to a life of sin, priesthood as it is now would not be the best option. We also touched on the liberalism and sometimes strange practices that are associated with Baptists and Pentecostals. The discussion also got more personal as we talked about how effective Christian counseling could be (for example, how effective marriage counseling can be coming from an unmarried priest). Both men shared testimony of the strength of the women in their lives (the Anglican's wife and the Catholic's mother), who were patient and enduring, attributing these characteristics to their closeness to the Lord. The debate was friendly and, at times, people would switch sides to defend certain views rather than an entire sect. It was interesting, because these men seemed to be informed Christians who studied, not only scripture, but Christian history. The Roman Catholic actually brought up the war between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland, and told us about how Saint Patrick used the example of the clover to explain the nature of the Trinity. It was a great discussion that made us want to study more deeply the nature of the divisions between the sects that would divide Christians so deeply and violently, yet allow this Anglican to attend a Roman Catholic church without causing too much conflict in the way he worshipped, studied, or fellowshipped.
We feel that, overall, God placed us where he wanted us today. The conversations that we engaged in were not even led by us, but by those we were conversing with. They pulled the conversation towards religion, toward topics that revealed their worldview, and we happily followed. I was amazed at how easily some people are willing to tell you about their lives and beliefs, not to impose them on you, but simply to discuss them.

Rosa & Maria

• Posted at 08:00 pm by Rosa and Maria
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